(ANSA) – MILAN, APRIL 04 – WhatsApp is implementing new and more stringent measures to limit the spread of fake news. The latest beta of the application puts in fact a more marked brake on the functionality for forwarding messages. With the app version 2.22.8.11, released to developers and test program subscribers, it is possible to forward a message to only one group chat at a time, a move to reduce the risks deriving from the propagation of fake news.
As found by the expert site WABetaInfo, on WhatsApp beta for Android and iOS, when you select a message already present in the sent or received to forward it to your groups, you can choose only one other group to send it to. If you try to forward the communication to other groups as well, the notification “Forwarded messages can only be sent to a group chat” will appear. The limit applies to the forwarding operation itself but does not prevent you from reselecting the message and choosing an additional group window to send it to.
According to Meta, which controls WhatsApp, the novelty should make it less automatic to share viral news, potentially false, to one’s friends. The implementation, whose arrival date in a stable version of the software is yet to be defined, comes four years after a similar feature dedicated to WhatsApp users in India. In July 2018, subscribers in the country had experienced the limit of forwarding a single message, with the same click, to a maximum of five chats. A decision taken following the growing phenomenon of the spread of hoaxes and fake news that had caused, throughout India, incidents and lynchings against people accused of kidnapping children, without any evidence. In January 2019, these restrictions were extended globally.
(HANDLE).
Source: Ansa
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